Brighouse still ‘singled out’ in Calderdale's master housing plan

Councillors from the Brighouse, Rastrick and Hipperholme and Lightcliffe wards have stated that the revised site allocations in the Local Plan “unfairly and deliberately” single out the wider Brighouse area for development.

Calderdale Council’s cabinet met on Monday to approve revised site allocations for housing and industry throughout Calderdale.

These revised site allocations reflect the council’s intention to reduce the total figure of new housing across Calderdale from 16,000 dwellings to around 11,500.

This reduced housing figure has meant that many areas of the borough are now expected to accommodate significantly less housing growth than previously.

However, the overall percentage of new development occurring in the wider Brighouse area has increased following the latest revised housing allocations.

The figure for the wider Brighouse area is around 4,500 new homes.

Coun Howard Blagbrough (Conservative, Brighouse) said: “The vast majority of the sites that were earmarked for development in the Brighouse area are still in the allocations. This is in spite of the thousands of objections and comments from local residents, and lobbying from local councillors and Craig Whittaker MP for a number of years.

“In fact, Brighouse is now taking a higher percentage of all of the growth across Calderdale than it was in the draft plans released last summer.

“It is absolutely outrageous that Brighouse continues to be singled out to take an unfair and very disproportionate amount of development in the Local Plan.”

Coun Scott Benton (Conservative, Brighouse) said: “All Conservative councillors will be voting against the Local Development Plan as it continues to be unfair and unfit for purpose.

“We welcome the reduction in the total number of houses required across Calderdale but our view on the Local Plan has not changed.”

Calder Valley MP Craig Whittaker said: “The reduction in the overall housing allocation across Calderdale is welcome but this does not address the fundamental weaknesses of Labour’s Mass Housing Plan.

“The council has still not released an infrastructure plan that is fit for purpose and which demonstrates that the Local Plan is deliverable.”